Chamber and committees

There is no single nationally agreed Scottish definition of ‘rapidly progressing cancer’ or ‘aggressive cancer’. Whilst clinicians may use terms such as these on occasion to support patients understand their diagnosis, they are not recognised as clinical descriptors.

Public Health Scotland reports cancer stage using standard stage groups one to four, with Stage One and Two typically classified as early-stage disease and Stage Three and Four as late-stage disease. Cases where stage cannot be assigned are reported as unknown stage.

Our Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Pathways, operational in six health boards across Scotland, provide primary care clinicians with access to a fast-track diagnostic pathway for people with non-specific symptoms suspicious of cancer, such as weight loss and fatigue.

For all other individuals with symptoms of cancer, the Scottish Government would expect primary care clinicians to refer to the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer (SRGs). A clinical review of SRGs has been completed with updated guidance published on 6 August 2025

The Scottish Government expects primary care clinicians to refer to the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer (SRGs) when reviewing an individual with any suspected cancer symptom.

The eligibility criteria for lodging a proposal to alter a Council Tax valuation band are set out in The Council Tax (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (Scotland) Regulations 1993 and are administered by Scottish Assessors, who are independent of national and local government.

The current framework provides a number of routes through which valuation bands may be reviewed. Council Taxpayers may make a proposal in prescribed circumstances, including within six months of becoming liable for Council Tax at a property. Similar rules exist in England and Wales.

In addition, Assessors have an ongoing statutory duty to maintain accurate valuation lists and may alter a valuation band where they are satisfied that an error has been made. As such, Assessors may accept informal requests for the valuation of a property at any time, without time limit. The decision whether to undertake such informal consideration of council tax banding is discretionary and therefore is one for the Assessor alone to make.

The Scottish Government has worked with Local Government, including through a joint programme of engagement in the last parliamentary session, to build agreement and inform debate on the future of Council Tax. This has involved independent analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a public consultation which closed in January 2026 and engagement with members of the public and tax professionals. Analysis of this engagement and consultation activity will be published later this year. This will help to provide a clear evidence base for further work to build agreement on the future of Council Tax.

All proceeds from a future bond issuance would be used exclusively for capital investment in line with the capital borrowing powers outlined in the Fiscal Framework agreement between the Scottish and UK Governments.

In November 2025 the Scottish Government published a summary Outline Business Case (OBC) assessing the case for the Bonds Programme. This provides an assessment of the range of total present value of additional costs in 2024-25 prices across different issuance options compared to borrowing via the NLF.

The Summary OBC can be accessed from Scottish Government bonds programme: outline business case summary - gov.scot

The Scottish Government has not undertaken work to this end.

It is important to note that there is no single nationally agreed Scottish definition of ‘rapidly progressing cancer’ or ‘aggressive cancer’. Whilst clinicians may use terms such as these on occasion to support patients understand their diagnosis, they are not recognised as clinical descriptors.

However, our Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 includes a commitment to carry out a clinically led review of cancer waiting times. This will determine whether there is merit in additional or alternative standards, including for different types of cancer.

This review, being led by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery, has been initiated with evidence reviews being commissioned through key partners such as Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) and Cancer Research UK.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information as this is Scottish Ambulance Service operational data. Scottish Ambulance Service published data can be found here: Unscheduled Care Operational Statistics

Final external costs in 2025-26 were £430,000, excluding VAT, set against an original budget allocation of £1 million.

All Credit Rating reports will cite factors that could influence a rating action.

Importantly, the Credit Rating results confirmed the Scottish Government as high investment grade, after assessing the credit fundamentals of the Scottish economy, the Scottish Government’s financial stewardship and the approach to debt management. These strengths remain.

In the event of fundamental constitutional change, the Scottish Government would be rated as a Sovereign Government, under a different methodology.